Proper hydration helps your kidneys remove waste from your bloodstream, improves brain function, keeps your heart pumping, and gives your body what it needs to properly digest food, which is important not just day-to-day, but throughout your life. National Institutes of Health 2023 paper Proper hydration could “slow aging and extend disease-free lifespan,” one of the authors wrote.
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The study that touted the good news about milk was conducted in the UK. In it, researchers had 72 male subjects drink 13 different liquids and measured their urine volume compared to those who drank water. Less urine volume means a higher drinking hydration index (BHI) or, in other words, more water is absorbed into the body. The results are due to multiple factors. The diuretic caffeine in coffee and tea can make a person go to the bathroom more often. As anyone who has experienced a hangover knows, alcoholic drinks can cause dehydration, but it depends on what and how much you drink. Beer, for example, contains more water than whiskey, so it won’t dry you out as much.
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Better than any of those, and probably better than water, was milk, and the reason for this may surprise you.
